The Artist: Koichiro Kurita
Koichiro Kurita, known for his large format platinum works, has been photographing landscapes and subjects in nature for more than 25years. He studied perceptual psychology and used camera for his experimental research when he was a college student in Kobe Japan. In the mid-1980s, Kurita read Thoreau’s Walden and deeply impressed by its message of living a life close to one’s natural environment. He quit a successful career in commercial photography in Tokyo and embarked on a new path as a landscape and nature photographer. He came to the US in 1990 as a grantee of Asian Cultural Council Foundation (a part of J.D. Rockefeller III Fund). Kurita sees in terms of “Chi Sui Ki” (1986-2006), or earth, water and air, and the borders that each of these shares with one another and ourselves. He created large scale of traditional platinum/palladium printing on handmade gampi paper. And “Perceiving” (2005-2010) series, this idea from perceptual psychology, Kurita’s multi-paneled compositions were shot a different perspective, yet together these separate fields of vision give the impression of one continuous impression, emphasizing the “Chi Sui KI” within the greater world of nature.
Kurita’s current project, Beyond Spheres (2010 -2017) is a photographic art project that is inspired by his two mentors and predecessors, William Henry Fox Talbot and Henry David Thoreau. This project is based in homage to Talbot’s invention of photography and a long journey inspiration from Thoreau. “What if Thoreau had been a photographer? ” Through the photography, Kurita explores visual journey to understand Thoreau’s perceptions and philosophy with the idea of harmonious relationship between man and nature. Employing with calotype (Talbotype paper negative process), invented in1841 by Talbot, photography pioneer in England and Thoreau’s contemporaries, Kurita creates salted paper prints and albumen prints on hand coated gampi paper.
Koichiro Kurita's works have been exhibited internationally and collected by numerous museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Harvard Art Museums, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the George Eastman Museum, the Maison Europeenne de la Photographie, the Biblioteque Nationale de France, Paris, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum and many others. Public Collection
